The always hilarious Boi From Troy cast a glance askance at Washington D.C.'s upcoming "Paris on the Potomac" celebration this week. Set to occur between Valentine's and Memorial Day, Paris on the Potomac will feature "over 80 special French-themed programs" and will include performances, tours, lectures and exhibitions.

All of which confuses the Boi, who wonders whether D.C.'s yen for John Kerry maybe got the better of us here in the nation's capital. We won't touch his comparing the guillotine with "a midnight walking tour of Southeast" (jeez, we sort of thought BFT might have a taste for the rough trade!) -- but we will remind him that D.C. has always had a long-standing French Connection. Does Lafayette Park not sprawl alongside the White House? Were our confusing roundabouts not bequeathed to us by the unflappable Pierre Charles L'Enfant? Boston may have given birth to Au Bon Pain, but did not we DCers make it an institution?

Besides, there's ample signs that Francophobia is so yesterday, anyway. Even as we write, the United States is working to mend fences with France and the rest of Europe. Leading the overseas charm offensive today in Paris is our very own Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. DCist was sent an old clipping from the September 13, 1970, Denver Post, featuring a lovely tribute from Montgomery Wards to the then 15-year-old Rice, describing her musical prowess and love for ice-dancing.

Looking at the picture, is it any wonder that Rice is the perfect person to beguile and win over the French? That smile, those eyes, the depiction of her graceful ballet skills? We particularly love the fact that hidden in the recesses of the larger drawing are not one but two depictions of Rice tickling the ivories. In the lower left hand corner a young Rice sits atop a phone book in order to reach the keys -- that phone book no doubt provided by some goofy liberal "Great Society" program! In the above right, however, a clearly older Rice has pulled herself up by her bootstraps like a good Republican and grown legs that reach all the way to the pedals!

So even as D.C. braces itself for a spring filled with Paris on the Potomac, our Secretary of State is across the Atlantic, perhaps cooking up her own "Washington, D.C. on the Seine" to share with our French cousins on both the Rive Droite and the Rive Gauche. Perhaps she's teaching the Parisiennes something about subway etiquette. Maybe she's already convinced them to publicly fund a baseball stadium. Whatever happens, we at DCist hope that out chilly relations experience a thaw. We are so sick of eating freedom toast.